However, part of the £23.9m compensation - which is paid from an insurance-type NHS scheme rather than hospital funds - is likely to have gone to Martin Balfe, whose 62-year-old wife died when surgeons failed to spot a bile leak in June 2011. It was later found this caused her organs to fail.

Meanwhile, more figures show the number of ‘serious incidents’ - those that staff believed had the potential to harm to a patient - reported in 2013/14 were 118 versus 76 in the previous 12 months.

The hospital said some of this was down to better reporting procedures, particularly around pressure ulcers.